Vampire Love Story

Why watch this (drivel)?



When you can watch this?



Now, I haven't watched either but I think I'd rather watch the latter. No offense to the rabid fans of the series out there.

P.S. Thanks to sparks for the link.

El Orfanato

If you ever want to be frightened out of your skin one of these days, go watch El Orfanato (directed by first time director Juan Antonio Bayona and produced by Guillermo del Toro).

Seriously freaky stuff. I had my eyes closed most of the time (for those who know me, you'd know this is my way of watching horror movies) and still I couldn't shake off the eeriness of the film.

D, who LOVES getting freaked out, enjoyed himself immensely. There were a few scenes when we, along with the rest of the audience, jumped out of our seats because of how brilliantly scary they were set up.

Hollywood movie directors, please take note. This is how you make a great horror movie.

Fun with Magnets

I've always wanted those fridge letter magnets but I found them to be too pricey (seriously, $30?!?).

Me, being a cheapskate, decided to make my own. I found out that it wasn't too hard. I'm even thinking of giving them as gifts, if I ever get un-lazy enough.

What you need:

1. a computer and a printer
2. photo paper
3. magnet tape (the most brilliant invention)
4. a ruler
   
5. cutter/scissors/guillotine

What to do:

• Using whatever software you're comfortable with, make small boxes with letters/numbers/symbols. Print a few practice runs until you're happy with the size and shape.
  
  
  

• If you're too lazy to make your own, use my templates below (click and then download). You'll have to print the first one twice to get a decent number of letters. I used 4x6 photo paper and iPhoto.

• Attach magnet tape in strips to the back of your photo paper. Make sure you don't leave spaces between tapes.

• Cut your letters (this is the most time and effort consuming part of the process). I used a combination of guillotine, cutter & board and scissors to cut the little buggers.
  
  
  

• Stick them on your fridge and voila! you've got your own fridge letters.

Sunday Morning Bliss Is...

A mug of french vanilla coffee and treats from the local bakery.

Too bad D's on a fishing trip that he can't share my yummy pastries.

Yum Yum.

A Weekend in October

A bit delayed but here's a photo blog of our weekend away in October:
Clockwise from top left:
1) Happy birthday Shivani!
2) WTF? Avocado = Testicle? Gross.
3) Our cozy bedroom
4) The group minus sleepy D
5) The boys fishing but not catching anything

3 Weeks Ago

This a really delayed post but I wanted to put up pictures from my birthday BBQ.

D and I decided to drive up to Sky High Mt. Dandenong (one of our favourite picnic spots) to have a picnic BBQ. For once, the weather cooperated and it was a gorgeous spring day.

And yes, the lettuce is from my garden.

The weather was perfect, the food was yum and I had my D. It was a good birthday.

P.S.
Obviously the pictures have been edited. Picnik is a great site for photo editing dummies. It's too simple for words.

Tess and Charlie were here!

They came for a weekend and although it was a short visit we had fun with them. Charlie's so adorable.

It was great having them here.

Garden Addict

I think I'm getting slightly obsessive about my makeshift veggie garden. Can you blame me?

I bought special tomato fertilizer so that my tomatoes get red already.

I transplanted (and likely killed) my coriander and rocket onto the ground as they had seeded and aren't good for eating. I'm hoping they seed out new eatable plants but I've started afresh anyway. I've planted new seeds hoping they turn out better.

I need to start making more salads.

Poaching an Egg is Hard

Since it's miserable outside today (it was hailing, for goodness sake. in spring!), we decided to ditch our usual cafe brunch. Well, I did anyway. D sort of went with my decision.

So, I went to experiment in the kitchen with the hope of recreating one of our favourite cafe breakfasts, the Eggs Benedict.

I thought making the hollandaise sauce would be the toughest bit as I didn't even have a clue of what made it up other than it was made out of eggs.

I found this recipe online and followed it (halving the ingredients as there was only the 2 of us). It came out fairly decent, especially for my first time. D even said it tasted better than the sauce we've had in some cafes.

ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 pinch ground white pepper
• 1 tablespoon water
• 225g (8 oz) butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

preparation method

1. Fill the bottom of a double boiler part-way with water. Make sure that water does not touch the top pan. Bring water to a gentle simmer.
2. In the top of the double boiler, whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, white pepper and 1 tablespoon water.
3. Add the melted butter to egg yolk mixture 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time while whisking yolks constantly.
4. If hollandaise begins to get too thick, add a teaspoon or two of hot water. Continue whisking until all butter is incorporated. Whisk in salt, then remove from heat. Place a lid on pan to keep sauce warm until ready to serve.

I didn't put as much lemon juice (I don't like it too tangy). I also added a sprinkling of cayenne pepper for some kick.

The most challenging part of the eggs benedict were the eggs. Poaching an egg takes skill. A lot of it. By this time, we only had 3 eggs left as I had used the 2 for the sauce.

I used the first one and the white went all over the place. It wasn't very pretty. D tried and his was even more of a disaster as the yolk broke while he was cooking it. The last egg went into the microwave in a poaching gizmo but that was crappy as well.

In the end, we still ate the ugly eggs. I assembled the ingredients: bagel, ham, ugly egg and covered the whole lot with hollandaise sauce. A lot of sauce to cover the ugliness of the eggs. Turned out quite yummy actually.

If I could do it all over again, I would actually research egg poaching first before I tried it. Lots of how-to videos on the net like this one.

Garden Update

I was supposed to upload these pics a couple of weeks back. My garden has flourished even more since then but I'll leave you with these images for now.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Update 19 Dec 08: this mixtape is going to be defunct by end of 2008 because of closed minded, greedy corporate types. Read more about it here. Oh well, it was a really cool idea while it lasted.

How Brilliant

Obama won. Convincingly.

Americans aren't as stupid as I thought. There's hope yet.

Just Because

I'm so on-the-pulse, that I found out about this cool thing only months after the fact (well, 3 years+ really if you count when it first started).

There was a Melbourne Zombie Shuffle last June, wherein hundreds of zombie-wannabes shuffled through the streets of Melbourne. Why? No apparent reason, really. Just to honour the zombies, I guess.


It's the coolest thing I've heard about in a while.

Can you imagine yourself as a tourist, arriving in Melbourne the night before and then walking out of your hotel the next morning finding yourself swamped with zombies? How freaky cool would that be? Hehe.

Read more about it here or here.

I must remember to head into the city next time the shuffle's on.

In the meantime, I need to prepare myself by doing some research. This book looks like a good place to start.

Project Runway Philippines

I got hooked on this show. I had just finished watching the first season of Project Runway Australia (which was great to watch as well, especially since it was filmed in Melbourne) and I happened upon a link for this one.

Needless to say, I watched the first episode. Then the next. And the next. By that time, I was hooked.

It's not the most brilliant production nor do they have the smartest judges. However, they do have compelling designers -- who may lack avant garde-ness in design but make it up with their bitchin' for camera antics.

I watch it mostly because I miss the Philippines and it's good to see familiar landmarks and places. I want to go back to Metro! Metro!, where the designers usually buy their fabric. Yes, exclamation points are included in the mall's name. Only in the Philippines. I love it. I also want to see how Cubao has reinvented itself as an arts centre from just being known for Fiesta Carnival. I miss Manila.

It's funny though that non-Filipinos like it as well. I guess art is the universal language.

Although I don't agree with the judges on who was left in the top 3, I'm still eagerly waiting for the finale. I can't wait to see their collections and who wins. Next week can't come soon enough. Especially after 2 weeks of fluff episodes (reunion and "making-of").

For those who haven't watched a single episode, this link will help you get started.

You've been forewarned. It may be addictive.

Friendster is Bizarre

So, I logged into Friendster after a long, long while.

It feels so dated. Maybe because it was the first ever networking site I got acquainted with. Or maybe because most of my "friends" on that site are from the olden days. I mean, seriously, ancient. Some go as far back as high school.

The bizarre thing is friendster allows you to take a peek into other people's lives. People you may have known in a previous life, but are now virtually strangers.

Take the case of M2. I had the most serious crush on him back in my early uni days. I thought myself half in love with him at the time. Of course, he didn't know I existed. We caught up once a couple of years after graduation. It was very random. I remember he lent me money (100 pesos I think) because my wallet was stolen on my way to meet him. I told you it was random.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. My point is, M2 has become blah. How horrid. To think I spent a lot of hours pining after him. Now, I don't think I would give him the time of day. Well, maybe. I don't know. All I know is he hasn't aged gracefully.

Oh, and another bizarre thing, M2 and I have 1 common friend and I would never have picked it. The common friend was someone I knew from work. Don't know how M2 knows him.

Another guy I "checked out" was someone even further back in history. We "flirted" when we were in high school. I say flirted because we never actually hooked up. I mean, c'mon, we were 14 for chrissake.

Anyway, his profile says he's single but all the pictures he has on his page are with this girl (who was part of the group of girls I hung out with back then) that he hooked up with in high school. Which makes me wonder what their relationship is. At least on facebook, you've the option of choosing "it's complicated."

So, friendster is bizarre in that it makes me wonder about other people's relationships -- people I had forgotten about until I logged on.

Anyway, he's not what I would call blah but he seems cheesy. Cheesy in the I-think-you-think-I-look-good-and-I-know-I-look-good kind of way.

So, that got me thinking. I hope I haven't become blah. I had to look at my posted pictures to make sure I didn't look blah. I don't think I look blah but what do I know?

Ugh, I hope I'm not blah.


_ _ _ _
Did you notice I didn't have a point in this post at all? Yeah, I did too.

Advance Birthday Pressie

D bought me a wii today for my birthday (which is 3 weeks from now but who's counting). It came with wii sports.

It's been so much fun! We spent the last 5 hours playing with it. Now my body's sore in places that have laid dormant for quite some time.

In addition, I bought myself a wii fit which I'm hoping gets me off my ass and doing some exercising at least.

In the last few hours, I've played tennis, boxed, bowled, played baseball, did some yoga, and found out my bmi among other things. Can't wait to play again tomorrow...

Blog Holiday

I'm going on a blog holiday for a couple of weeks. I just don't have much to say. Or feel like it anyway.

I'll be back.

Check back in a couple of weeks. I should have my head sorted by then.

Work Meltdown

Work's been a bitch lately. Too much work, too much stress. I usually manage my work load pretty well, mainly because I'm efficient. And I become bored easily. So I try to work quickly before I get bored with a task, any task.

But lately, more and more work has been piled on my plate and I've already cried uncle a couple of times with no relief. I know everyone's under the pump at the moment but that doesn't mean I pick up their slack. Pay me more and maybe I'll consider it.

I've been having trouble sleeping lately and that's a clear indication of my stress level. Today, I had a meltdown (in the privacy of a cubicle in the loo) because it just got a bit too overwhelming. The thing is, there's no end in sight and that's starting to tax me.

I'm starting to dread going to work and I haven't felt that in a while now. I don't know what to do. One reason I'm stressing is I don't like doing shoddy work. But with the work load I have, there's only two ways to go: either the work suffers or I suffer. And no job is worth suffering for.

I need a holiday.

The Galleon Cafe

D and I met up with our friends K and T for brunch last Sunday. K suggested The Galleon Cafe in St Kilda, which was featured in a couple of breakfast blogs.

They were quite busy but there was only a few minutes wait for a table. Off to a good start.

The breakfast menu was quite extensive and it took us a while to decode, decipher and decide what to order.

Coffee was a bit slow but nothing excessive. It was a decent cup -- not the best but good. OJ wasn't freshly squeezed though.

As it turns out, three of us decided to order the same thing -- eggs benedict with ham.

It was a good choice as it was very yummy. And filling.

K ordered something else -- I've forgotten now what it was (K, do you remember what it was called?) -- which was good too.

The place was kitschy but comfortable. Casual and relaxed, just the way I like my cafes.

Good food, friendly service, decent coffee. No tourist prices here so brunch was quite reasonable. Not bad at all.

If you're in St Kilda and looking for a place to eat, stop by the Galleon. I heard lunch isn't bad either.

Last Tuesday

So, almost a week ago, we celebrated our second anniversary. I was planning to give D a photo book of our 3 1/2 years together but I wasn't able to finish it on time (I'm still not done) so I had to rearrange my schedule last Tuesday to get him some Koko Black chocolates from the city. They're lovely lovely chocolates. Very yum.

As I've previously mentioned, D took me to Donovans. It was very very good. I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Of course I forgot to take pictures of our entree and main courses so you'll just have to use your imagination.

We started with the complementary farmers bread with broad bean paste (infused with parmesan and basil) which was quite good.

We shared an entree - 4 tastes which was basically 4 mini meals. They were all v yummy, although I've now forgotten what they were. Anyway, I think this entree changes every so often, depending on the chef's choice.

I asked my friend J what to order as Donovans is her favourite place and she unequivocally said, chicken pie. Now, it seems odd to associate chicken pie with a posh restaurant, but you've never had chicken pie like they serve it at Donovans. D ordered that and he was v grateful to J for the advice.

I ordered the beef ribs, which turned out to be HUMONGOUS. Seriously. I couldn't finish it, even with D's help.

After all that, I was loathe to order dessert but D, being D, just had to order a rhubarb crumble, which he enjoyed very much.

The sweetest thing was, when the dessert came, they also gave us a complimentary dessert sampler with Happy Anniversary written on it (in chocolate, no less!). Totally unexpected but truly appreciated.

It was a good dinner to celebrate our anniversary. I loved it.

(Slightly) Green Thumb

I've never had a green thumb. I tend to kill most plants I try to grow. I think I got it from my mom. Between the two of us, we've probably become mass murderers to plants by now.

Which is why it gets me all excited when plants actually grow, and even thrive.

I had my doubts about this rosemary as it was on life support for a few months but come spring 2 years ago, it started growing and growing and growing.

My parsley has also managed to come back from near death and although it's not exactly thriving, at least it's not dying.

My coriander is the one I'm most proud of just because it's the first seed to fully grown plant I've ever managed not to kill. I even transferred it to a bigger pot because it was growing so fast.

Not all are success stories. Just ask my oregano and mint plants. I'm hoping they come back to life, somehow. It's spring! Grow!

I've also planted some more plants in the hope that I'll have a fully fledged garden come summer.

These are my tomato plants, which have not shown any signs of life at all.

This is my rocket pot, which is showing some potential.

You have to look really hard but the buds are there.

I'm also growing lettuce and they're the ones that I'm getting real excited about. D made me put in a gazillion seeds in my pots and now I think they're going to get crowded real soon.

And then there are the unknowns.

I planted this without labeling it and now I'm not exactly sure what it is. I have a suspicion it's rocket but then when I planted it I didn't have any rocket seeds. Go figure.

This one's even more bizarre because I thought it was sweet basil. It doesn't look or smell like basil at all. I have a feeling it's a weed. =(

So that's my garden. Thanks for visiting. Come back again in a month's time and hopefully I'll have more progress to report on.